Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks

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Direct-feed movies of Liu Kang tearing men apart with his bare hands, and final thoughts on the reviewable build.

By Douglass C. Perry

Midway has longed to break away from the technical confines of the Mortal Kombat fighting area for years, yet neither the right team nor technology has permit the evolution to date. Given the series' lengthy history (starting in the arcades in 1992), and its bad luck with Mortal Kombat Trilogy, the company's first attempt at a platform-style fighting game, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks marks the first time the series will successfully launch into a different genre altogether.

Due to ship on Xbox and PS2 early next week, this mixed action, puzzle, and platform fighter looks to get most everything right. Starting with nimble fighting mechanics, in-depth single-player and co-op gameplay that's deep yet easy to pick up and play, and some of the best yeeeee-haaaas and waaaaa-haaaas!! voice-overs In the business, the combo-laden 2D fighter has finally come onto its own as a co-op action game.

Let's Fight!!! MK: Shaolin Monks starts you off with basic fighting skills: a flurry of basic attacks, kicks, some throws and blocks, and leads you into a story that requires mastery of fighting, team work, puzzle-solving, boss battles, and clever interaction with the backgrounds. Built in 3D with solid texture maps and a healthy amount of polygonal environments, the game's best graphics are left to the two fluid-moving character models of Liu Kang and Kung Lao.

Either one is selectable from the beginning and each offers a distinct fighting style of his own. Familiar with the Mortal Kombat series? You're in luck. These warriors brawl exactly like the characters in the fighting series, with the same moves you're so damned skills at comboing with. The basic moves are there from the start, with more skills unlocking through interaction and via earned skill points. As you kill enemies through combos and finishers, you'll earn points, leveling up your character and opening up "buy-able" new moves. Thus, as you progress, the game gets deeper, and more complex and sophisticated.

When you've built up some skills using Liu Kang, for instance, he'll be able to pull off more dynamic moves such as combo high and low fireballs, running up an enemy's back and pummeling them in mid-air, and using secondary and tertiary combo moves to beat the snot out of Outworld thugs.

The list of unlockable moves is long and interesting. For instance, the upgrade system of special moves is three-tiered, so each tier adds another entirely more powerful attack. Little smart additions like this make Shaolin Monks super addictive. And it puts the unlocking of new moves easily on par with the actual fighting. In its RPG-lite way, MK: Shaolin Monks is like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, X-Men Legends, or Champions of Norrath with its addictive, fun-to-fiddle-with upgrade system.